Rebirth
by krystalMage
Summary: One-shot. Kenshin remembers his days soon after he left the Ishin Shishi.  The world was a strange place that he tried to understand, not as Katsura's expedient assassin, but as a man who lives by a vow never to kill.  KK. Complete.


**Summary:** Kenshin remembers his days soon after he left the Ishin Shishi. The world was a strange place that he tried to understand, not as Katsura's expedient assassin, but as a man who lives by a vow never to kill. KK.

**Disclaimer:** Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro. I lay no claim on its characters, and events. The situations described in this story are however, mine.

**Rating:** T

My first one-shot. I am so proud of myself.

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**Rebirth**

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The rain came as if from nowhere. The sun had been shining; rays of golden light peeped through the leaves of the trees and washed over the fields of young rice. Suddenly, there was a loud clap of thunder; and the clouds swirled across the sun. Thick grey clouds appeared on the horizon and the sun vanished. The grey skies grew darker as the rain began to pour.

Ayame and Suzume yelped and ran back towards the house, closely followed by Yahiko. Sano darted inside the gate of the dojo, grinning as an angry Megumi followed. Her feet kept getting caught in the loose mud. Sano watched with undisguised glee as she struggled to make her way across the yard to the house, her hand holding a newspaper over her head. The rain leaked through the paper and seeped onto her hair and clothes. She cried out in frustration as her sandal caught in the mud once more.

Sano turned towards Yahiko and winked. He strode out towards Megumi and nonchalantly hoisted her into his arms and ran for the house. Megumi shrieked and pounded her fist on his shoulder soundly.

"Put me down you brute! What do you think you're doing?"

Sano set her down on the parapet. Rubbing his shoulder gingerly, he replied, "I was just trying to help. Next time, I'll simply push you over and then we'll see how you like the mud, Fox."

"I was doing just _fine_, without you acting like the total moron that you are!"

Kenshin smiled. "Sano was just trying to help, Miss Megumi that he was."

Sano leaned back against the wall, calmly chewing on a fishbone. He looked out into the yard. "Hey Kenshin, shouldn't you be rescuing the Missy's laundry? She might be upset if she saw you just sitting around and letting it soak in the rain."

Kenshin's eyes grew wide. He looked out, sure enough, the unfortunate pieces of clothing clung to the bamboo. They were soaked. He rushed out and frantically began pulling off the clothes from the bamboo poles. Behind him, Sano and Yahiko had started laughing softly at his predicament, but he didn't mind. They were his friends and he knew they meant well. Sano liked to tease him about being Kaoru's slave. The street fighter often berated him for his tendency to jump up and run at the slightest word from Kaoru.

But it was natural for him to behave in this manner. She was the first person who welcomed him into her world, without question, without sense or reason. She trusted him, unconditionally. He was the rock in her life, and she was his. Kaoru believed that he had saved her that day when he returned to Kamiya dojo to fight Gohei. But the truth was that, she had saved him. She had saved him, from a life of loneliness, of misery, of unending regret. She had saved him from a soul-debilitating doubt; a deep seated doubt that he would never find forgiveness. She had saved him from believing that his love for her was wrong. She believed in him. He was ready to live for her for that alone.

He removed the last piece of clothing from the pole.

"Kenshin! You'll get wet! Come inside." Kaoru called out to him.

He turned and looked at her. Her eyes were shining and she smiled. Kenshin felt a warm glow spreading inside his chest as he watched her eyes on him, smiling and shining with the light of the sun. He walked back with steady steps, he did not want to slip and land in the mud. He sat down beside Kaoru. She held her hand out. Large drops of rain landed with a splash on her smooth skin. She laughed softly as the water slid down her wrist, tickling her as it moved along her skin. Kaoru put both arms out and started waving them in the rain. Kenshin smiled as he watched her play.

He looked up at the swirling drops of rain falling from the sky. He had a deep connection with the rain. The rain had colored every important event in his life. It had been raining the night the day he had been recruited by Katsura from Takasugi's squad, it had rained the night he met Tomoe, it had rained the day he realized his feelings for Kaoru were something more than the steady affection of a friend, and it had rained the night he had finally learnt the final technique of Hiten Mitsuryugi from his master.

He closed his eyes. _It all seems so far away now, like a half-forgotten dream, or a distant memory. _

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Kenshin sighed inwardly as he watched the rain cascade steadily from the sky. He glanced forlornly at the road he had to take. It was a mess of mud and water now. He had left Kyoto far behind but he still wanted to go further and further away.

He avoided the piercing eyes of the customers lining up at the eel stand. He kept his eyes focused on the task at hand. He bent and picked up a large log of wood. Placing it carefully on the stump of wood in front of him, he raised his arms and brought the axe down upon it. The wood sliced cleanly, without a splinter.

He kept his face down. The last thing he needed right now was for someone to recognize him. He was far from Kyoto but still not far enough to bury his reputation. He finished chopping the load of firewood he had promised the owner of the eel stand. He gathered all the wood together and placed it at the back of the stand. He waited patiently as the owner attended to the last of his customers. The rain would prevent any more customers from approaching.

The owner glanced at the carefully chopped bundle of firewood. "You're finished?" His voice carried a faint element of sarcasm. He picked up a piece of wood and ran his thumb across the cut face. Kenshin kept his eyes trained to the ground.

"The wood was very fine, and soft. It was no trouble."

"No. it wouldn't have been much trouble for any swordsman of caliber. And certainly none for….the famed Battousai, would it?" The man smiled triumphantly, showing off a line of teeth blackened by opium. Kenshin refrained from stepping back in disgust.

"It was no trouble. My payment?"

"What's the hurry? It isn't everyday that a simple businessman like myself meets a swordsman as famous as you. Why don't you stay a while? We have many things to talk about."

"You are kind but I must leave. I have a long journey ahead of me."

"A journey? Back to Kyoto? You don't need to worry about that. I have a friend who has a horse, fastest horse for miles around. I'm sure he would be honored to let you use him."

"You don't need to concern yourself about me. If you do not wish to pay me…..I can leave."

"No! Oh no! What are you saying? Of course I intend to pay you." He fumbled inside his gi sleeve for his purse. "But it seems disrespectful for a man like me to be paying a great swordsman like you for a small task like this."

"I accepted the work. No task is too small."

The owner pulled out a small purse made of cloth. He glanced shrewdly at Kenshin. "Kyoto will not be the same without you."

Kenshin did not reply but his hand moved cautiously to rest on the hilt of his sword. The niggling feeing that he had been trying to ignore all morning returned.

The owner continued. "If the Battousai's favor no longer rests with the Ishin Shishi, perhaps I can interest you in a conversation?"

"A conversation….with whom?"

"The shogunate. They will overlook your past indiscretions if you lend them your sword…and your strength."

Kenshin raised his eyes and pierced through the veil of commonplace vendor that the spy wore. He straightened.

"You almost had me fooled."

The spy smiled, the gold filling in his black teeth revealing more than just his addiction to the drug. "We take our work seriously. And we take the Battousai very seriously indeed."

"The Battousai is dead. I am no longer the man you seek."

"Dead? Can the angel of death fall prey to death himself? Unheard of. Impossible."

"I must leave."

"You cannot leave without giving me the answer I seek."

"And if I refuse?"

The spy sighed dramatically. "Then, I will be forced to become impolite. And while you may have ruled the streets of Kyoto, my impoliteness will cost you dearly."

"I do not wish to fight."

"I don't believe my ears. Is this quivering mass of nerves the same Battousai who bathed Kyoto in blood?"

Kenshin bristled. He turned and began to walk away. The spy reappeared in front of him.

"You cannot walk away. Join us or die."

"I have stopped bargaining my life for death."

"You will die then."

Kenshin sighed. "I have no desire to fight you. Won't you step aside?"

The spy slipped into fighting stance, his kunai gleamed. Kenshin watched him carefully. He slid his foot to one side. The spy charged towards him. His speed was incredible. Kenshin stepped back and jerked his head away, missing the kunai by a mere centimeter. He swerved away from the spy and loosed his sword. Going down on his right knee, he pulled his sword out of the sheath and cut the spy under his armpit.

He crumbled and fell face first into the mud. Kenshin pivoted and stood up, only to be toppled to the ground by the spy, who straddled him and tried to stab him in the throat. Kenshin caught the kunai on his armguard and pushed upward. He threw his weight against the spy and toppled him over, pushing his katana against his throat.

"I have no desire to kill you. Do you understand?" He hissed. The spy narrowed his eyes and tried stabbing him once more. Kenshin slammed his elbow in his face. He picked up the kunai from the ground and embedded it in the spy's hand, pinning him to the ground. The spy screamed in anguish.

Kenshin slowly backed away. There was blood on his hands and it wasn't his. He closed his eyes. Turning, he walked away swiftly. There would be more of them. He needed to get away. What had happened today could not be repeated. He could not fight anyone again. No matter what the provocation.

What purpose would it serve if he vowed never to kill anyone yet injured someone within a hair's breadth of his life. There was only one solution, to go as far away as he could. He would avoid people, all people. That was the only way he could honour Tomoe's death and her sacrifice.

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When he saw it again after so many years, he didn't recognize it. The field which had seen the brutal murder of so many innocent people was now flowing with the tender stalks of young rice plants. The wind caressed each one lovingly. Kenshin sank to the ground. He watched mesmerized as the delicate green plants dipped and swayed with the wind. The tiny ripples of water between the plants reflected the clear blue sky. It seemed as though the ground was a window to another world. If he stepped into the field, he would go toppling down into that other place, where nobody would know him. He smiled weakly. If only things were so simple.

The world had become such a strange place. Here was a woman who was carefully tending to the plants that would feed an entire nation while blood was being split mercilessly in the seats of power. She hummed softly to herself and to the child strapped at her back. She was unaware of the specter of that violence who was sitting just at the edge of her peaceful realm. There was peace here, a calm that seeped into his skin and ran through his veins.

"_You could be happy with some land and seeds to grow."_

The woman walked off the field and set her child down on the upturned earth next to him. Kenshin glanced at the child. He was a plump, cherubic child with wondering eyes.

"Sir? Can you watch my boy for a few minutes? I need to clear that patch of land."

Kenshin looked up in surprise. The woman stared back at him blankly.

"Sir?"

"Oh. Yes, yes I would be honored." The woman simply stared at his strange words. _What honor was there in watching a child? It was a bother more than anything else._ She walked back into the field with her sickle in hand.

Kenshin glanced back at the child, who had started playing with the earth. He clapped his hands and laughed with joy as he pushed his little fingers into the earth and swirled them around. Kenshin smiled.

Tomoe was right. Perhaps even I can find peace. Perhaps, someday, someone will trust me again, as this woman has trusted me now, with her child. A manslayer like me can make amends for the past. I must live each day in hope. The world will change. The people who are suffering now will find comfort and peace in the future. Blood will no longer spill like water. Innocence will not be slaughtered. The sun that rises tomorrow will shine brighter and the sky will be clear. And one day, when this child grows up, he will no longer live in a world where swords forge the destiny of a people but where the will and voice of the people will act as the sword.

This is my dream. My dream will live on.

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"I don't care about your past. Everyone has a past they wish to forget. You can stay here as long as you want. What is your name?"

"Himura. Himura Kenshin."

**Author's Notes**

Most of my stories are based in alternative worlds. This is the first tie I've attempted something based in the world, and scheme of things that we were introduced to in the anime and manga. I have tried my best to portray Kenshin as he may have been right after he left the Ishin Shishi, an embittered, confused young man and as the Rurouni.

Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome as always. But of course for that, you would need to review.

Shukran.


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